It's finally December, and you've worked hard all year long. You wrote enough emails to fill a novel. You spent an average of seven hours a day on your computer. And, if you were working full-time, you probably spent 42 hours of your life battling traffic during your daily commute.

Whoa. If anyone deserves a chance to kick back and relax, it's you!

But as tempting as it may be to spend the rest of December curled up with a big mug of cocoa, a snuggly blanket, and a never-ending Netflix queue, you probably want to avoid hibernating all month long.

Regardless of whether your job status is employed or unemployed, you shouldn't underestimate the importance of getting a jump-start on your career in the year ahead in the final days of the month.

Use the next few weeks wisely so that you can finish 2015 feeling clear, focused, and organized when the year comes to an inevitable close. (If you're job hunting, this is an especially good time to get your ducks in a row because January is one of the best times to apply for a new job.)

Here are 20 career-boosting action steps to complete before the clock strikes midnight on New Year's Eve.

Via The Learning Factor, Ricard Lloria

A retired Scottish footballer and a Silicon Valley venture capitalist don’t seem like the likeliest of friends and collaborators. But Alex Ferguson, the long-time manager of the ultra-successful Manchester United team, and Michael Moritz, the chairman of Sequoia Capital, have more in common than you might suspect.

Ferguson, whose team won 38 trophies in the 27 years he coached, and Moritz, an early investor in Google, Yahoo, and Airbnb, have both thought long and hard about the art of management. Together they’ve written a book on the art of management — Leading: Learning from Life and My Years at Manchester United — that distills the lessons in leadership Ferguson learned while heading the world’s most successful sports franchise.

Via The Learning Factor, Ricard Lloria